A Beautiful Thing
by Reese1
Summary: As Ginny walks down the aisle at her wedding, she relives the moments when she fell in love with Harry. Harry Ginny. Post DH.
1. Dreaming of You

_A cold winter wind blew outside the Burrow as Ginny Weasley lay in her bed, her blanket pulled up to her chin, her eyes fixed on her mother, who sat at her bedside and gently brushed a tendril of hair across her daughter's face. A candle sat on her dresser, bathing the room in a soft, warm glow._

_Ginny was six years old, and her mother was telling her the story of Harry Potter for the first time._

"… _and so He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, having killed James and Lily Potter, was going to do the same to little Harry."_

"_Then what happened, mommy?"_

"_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named directed the killing curse at Harry, but then a miracle happened. The curse destroyed him instead, and Harry was left only with a lightning shaped scar on his forehead. And so Harry was saved by his parents who loved him and gave their lives so that he might live. And He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named disappeared and has not been seen since."_

_Ginny stared up at her mother, eyes wide in wonder._

"_Where is Harry now?"_

_Molly smiled._

"_He's out in the Muggle world somewhere. He's safe. You know, he's about your age."_

_Ginny felt a surge of excitement in her heart._

"_Really? Does that mean I'll get to meet him someday?"_

"_I'm sure you'll meet him one day at Hogwarts. Maybe you'll even be best of friends. Isn't that a lovely thought? Someday…"_

_Someday…_

The words spoken by her mother, all those years ago, echoed in Ginny's mind as she walked down the center aisle. On one side, her father led her by the arm, hiding the urge to burst into tears behind a mask of dignified gentility.

The Burrow had become a favorite wedding location, it seemed. It was where Bill had married Fleur, and it was also the scene for the marriage of Ron and Hermione, the latter taking place little more than a year ago. The spot by the orchard was as beautiful as ever in its autumnal splendor. Many of the same guests who had attended the wedding of Bill and Fleur were also present at this one. With the defeat of Voldemort, there was a decidedly more carefree atmosphere. No one would have to worry about being attacked by Death Eaters at the reception this time.

Ginny smiled at the remembrance of the bedtime story told to her when she had been six. She was certain that every child at the time had heard that story, told in a similar fashion, but she, Ginevra Molly Weasley, was special. Back then, her mother had only imagined that someday they might be friends, never dreaming that they might be much more than friends, that they would be lovers.

When had she first felt that spark of love toward Harry? She could not, even now, point to a single discrete moment when it had happened for her. If she looked back far enough, thought about it harder…

_The train came roaring into Platform 9 ¾, and Ginny felt her mother's hands on her shoulders, keeping her from drawing too near to the moving train. Gradually, the gears came to a halt, and she felt a new surge of excitement take hold of her. All the letters from Ron that she had eagerly snatched from her parents, back at the Burrow, came flooding back to her. Letters speaking of the adventures Ron had been having with his new best friends Harry and Hermione. Through Ron's letters, Harry was revealed to be a kind, considerate, and brave boy. He was a hero._

_Ginny delightedly pointed out her brother and Harry to her mother as the students began getting off the train. As her eyes met Harry's for the first time since the start of the school year, she felt a strange feeling take hold of her. _

_Those eyes. So gentle._

_Ginny felt her heart skip a beat, and she wondered what that meant. She had never been interested in a boy before; it was a completely alien feeling to her. _

_She averted her eyes at once as Harry drew near, next to Ron. Her mother's effusive greetings were drowned in her ears out by the sudden rush of secret excitement, the nascent attraction that she felt toward this boy. Suddenly there was nothing in the whole world except him, and everything else was meaningless. _

_As Ginny, now timidly, looked up again at Harry's face and saw his kind smile directed at her, she felt a blush creeping into her cheeks and tried her best to act normal. She desperately wanted to say something to him, something to make him take notice of her, but she had never been so terrified in her life. _

As Ginny neared the altar where Harry stood waiting for her, she noted how handsome he looked, dressed in his best suit. Before Ginny reached the front with her father, she saw Hermione sitting in the front row with Ron. For a brief moment, Ginny's and Hermione's eyes met. In that moment, Ginny wondered if she and Hermione were thinking the same thing, how it had been such a long time

…_since the night of the Yule Ball, and she was dancing with Neville Longbottom. On the outside, Ginny tried her best to look happy and entertained, even when Neville kept stepping on her toes during the waltz. Every so often, Ginny would steal a glance in Harry's direction, and she would feel a pang in her heart. Harry looked so bored and lonely, sitting off in a corner with Ron and the Patil twins, and she wished she could be the one sitting next to him. Ginny was certain that if she were sitting with Harry as a date, they would be laughing together, getting to know one another, sharing embarrassing stories about Ron—well, maybe not so much of that with Ron around—and all in all, just having the time of her life. Ron had even said it._

_You should just go with Harry._

_Why, oh why, did Neville have to ask her to the dance? If only she'd been available, she could have said yes to Harry, she could be talking to him, sitting next to him, dancing with him slow, feeling his arms around her… She would look up into his eyes, those lovely green eyes, and not say a word, but in that one longing look, her feelings would reach him and touch his heart…_

"_Ginny, are you all right?"_

_The song had ended. Neville regarded Ginny with a look of concern._

_Ginny immediately recovered and shook off her momentary lovesick daze. _

"_Oh," Ginny said brightly, trying to erase all thoughts of Harry from her mind but finding it impossible, "I'm fine."_

"_Are you having a good time? I'm glad you could come with me."_

_Seeing Neville and his awkward earnestness, Ginny felt glad that she hadn't ditched him in favor of Harry. He was too nice of a boy. Still, she couldn't help but imagine what might have been._

"_Of course," Ginny said with a touch of irony. "With my brilliant company, how could you get bored?"_

_Neville smiled._

"_Would you excuse me for a minute, Neville? I… I need to step out for a minute."_

_On her way out of the ballroom, Ginny met Hermione going in the opposite direction._

"_Oh, hello, Ginny," Hermione said. "Isn't it lovely tonight?"  
_

"_Yeah," Ginny uttered half-heartedly. "I suppose so."_

_Hermione stopped and looked at her closely. _

"_Something wrong?"_

_Ginny considered telling her everything she was feeling at that moment, but she held back. She felt heartsick. It hurt so deeply that it made her want to cry, and she didn't want to cry, especially not in front of Hermione._

_Hermione looked to each side and saw people milling about. She took Ginny by the hand and led her up a deserted stairway. _

"_You're not acting yourself," Hermione said. She paused. "It's about Harry, isn't it?"  
_

"_What?" Ginny said, a little alarmed at having her secret being spoken of so openly. "No, no, of course not—"_

_Hermione put her arm around Ginny's shoulders._

"_You don't have to pretend. It's okay. It's just the two of us. You can tell me."_

_Ginny looked into her friend's eyes._

"_I love him," Ginny said finally. It felt so good just to say that out loud. She had never really done that before. The closest she had come to openly admitting her feelings had been with the Tom Riddle Diary, and she preferred not to count that experience. _

"_I've loved him all this time, more and more every day. When I hear about the things he's done, when I see him with my family, when I see him with you and Ron, I just feel—I just feel it would be so—so—"_

"_So perfect," Hermione said gently._

"_Yes, perfect. I'm here dancing with Neville, and it's fine, he's nice, but he's not Harry. I keep looking at Harry, I keep looking at him and wishing that I could be with him. I want to know him, everything about him. If I could just be with him, it's all I would need. I wouldn't need anything else. I want to share his dreams, his joys and sorrows. I could share my life with him."_

_Ginny smiled tenderly as she said these things. Her eyes were timidly directed toward the floor._

_Ginny felt Hermione lifting her head to face hers._

"_Ginny," Hermione said, "what you just said was a beautiful thing. I know I couldn't say something like that, something so honest."_

"_Why," Ginny said slyly, "There's someone you care about? Someone besides Victor Krum?"_

"_What?" Hermione said. "Oh, goodness, no. What makes you think that?"_

"_There's someone you like," Ginny said. "And you're afraid to admit it."_

_She had a pretty good idea who that "someone" might be._

_A pregnant silence filled the air._

_Hermione shook her head, smiling. "Let's talk about you. Not me, okay?"_

"_Listen," she said seriously. "Harry doesn't know you the way I know you. You have a gentle heart, you're romantic, and you're strong. You've got spirit. The Ginny that Harry knows is timid and shy and too afraid to say a word in front of him. You need to show him the real you. You have to come out of your shell and start being your true self."_

"_How am I to do that?"_

"_How? You have to live a little. Try not to think about Harry so much. Go out and have fun. You know, go out with other guys. Try to move on."_

"_Then you're saying I should give up and forget Harry."_

_Hermione smiled and turned to go._

"_I never said you should give up," she said with a wink._

_Ginny watched her go back down the stairs. She sat down on the stairway alone for a few minutes. She felt that in that small moment, a change was working within her, and that this was the start of something big._

_I never said you should give up._

"_Yes, I won't give up," Ginny whispered as she rose. "I love you, Harry. I'll hold onto that feeling. And someday, maybe just someday, you'll see me at last, and love me too."_

_And when that happens, we shall be forever changed._


	2. A Vow and a Kiss

The time had come for the traditional exchange of vows. As Ginny stood facing Harry with the minister between them and surrounded by their families and friends, she felt the butterflies in her stomach.

The setting sun cast a fiery orange hue over them, and as she looked into Harry's eyes, he almost seemed to be glowing.

Harry went first.

"Ginevra Molly Weasley," he began after taking a deep breath, and looking steadily into her eyes, "Every day I am amazed by how steadfast you have been in your love for me. Even when we were apart, and living separte lives, you kept me in your heart. I know I was so blind to you, all those years, never realizing the treasure that was right in front of me. But I finally came around. My eyes were opened at last, and it was like I was truly seeing you for the first time, for the amazing, beautiful woman that you are."

Ginny, hearing these words for the first time, for they were a surprise, felt tears welling in her eyes.

"My solemn, eternal vow to you," Harry went on, "is that I will always remember the joy I felt in truly _seeing_ you for the first time. I promise to cherish you always, to protect you, to love and honor you as you deserve. I promise to dedicate my life to your happiness."

He took Ginny's trembling hand and gently slid the wedding ring onto her finger.

"This ring," Harry concluded, "is a symbol of my love."

The moment was everything that Ginny could have dreamt of, back when she was younger and nursing an unrequited crush on Harry.

_The two teenagers were alone in a darkened corridor, in a section of the castle near the Gryffindor area. Michael Cormier led Ginny by the hand, and the two of them laughed as they stumbled merrily along, enjoying one another's company._

_For a split second, Ginny wondered what Harry would think if he saw the two of them. But then she remembered that, of course, Harry had his own girlfriend to think about, Cho Chang. Ginny hadn't really seen what had happened, but she could imagine it… The two of them lingering behind at the D.A. meeting room after the others had all left… Harry sensing that he was finally alone with Cho, and, feeling the excitement of the moment, leaning in with his eyes closed… Cho closing her eyes as well and opening herself to him… and their lips meeting for the first time…_

_Why did Harry have to fall for a girl like Cho, anyway? Whatever did he see in her? What did Cho have that she didn't? What quality lay hidden within Ginny, waiting for the right person or circumstance to bring it out, so that Harry could see her for the special woman that she was, a woman worthy of his affections, a woman worthy of total commitment? _

_Ginny barely registered what Michael was saying as she thought about such things. She hardly noticed that they had nearly reached the portrait that covered Gryffindor's common room entrance._

"_Well," Michael said hesitantly, "we're here."_

"_Oh," Ginny said, roused from her daydream. "I had a nice time. Thank you, Michael."_

_Michael put a hand on her shoulder and leaned in closer. Ginny felt her heart rate speed up a bit._

"_See you tomorrow, then, sweetheart?"_

_And then, he was kissing her. Ginny had never been kissed before. She didn't know what she had pictured when she thought of it, but the reality always turned out different from what she had imagined. _

_For an instant, the thought crossed her mind that she was somehow betraying Harry; that, in kissing another boy, it meant she no longer loved him, that her affections had been transferred somewhere else. She had always pictured her first kiss being with Harry._

_No! she thought. He's out there kissing Cho Chang. I want to know what it feels like, too._

_The kiss with Michael deepened, and she put her arms around him. She felt more alive in that moment than she ever had in her short life up to that point. She had finally opened up all her senses, in a way. She was tasting him, his essence, the core of his very being, it felt. _

_So this is what intimacy feels like._

_It's so wonderful._

_I still love you, Harry. I'll never stop loving you. I won't be afraid. _

_I won't be afraid to let go of my fear of losing you. If it's meant to be, we'll be together one day. I'll place my trust in that hope. And it won't be by some stratagem or some kind of magic, that you'll love me. It will be fate, destiny. Yes, that's where my faith will be._

_That's where my love will be._

"Harry James Potter," Ginny said, reciting her vow before everyone, "I think I can honestly say that I have loved you all my life. When I first came to know you, your courage and your kindness touched my heart. I felt drawn to you. Even though we got off to a rocky start, I never gave up hope. I always believed, from the bottom of my heart, that if you could see me, really see me, and know my hopes and dreams, that we could share the most amazing love. You have brought so much joy to my life, and it's the trials that we went through together that have made it so much the sweeter.

"My vow to you," Ginny said, "is that I will always love you, and never forget the troubles we went through to be together. I promise to love you in spite of all discouragement and obstacles that may be placed between us. And I also promise this: that even when you will try to place me out of harm's way and take the burdens upon yourself, I will always disobey you and come back. I will always fight for you and the things that we believe in, and I will always be willing and happy to lay down my life for you."

Ginny said those last words with a smile as she saw Harry's bemused expression.

"I will do all those things because my love for you is completely selfless, Harry."

She placed the wedding band on his finger.

"This ring," she said, "is a symbol of my love for you."

Finally, it was time for the end of the ceremony. The minister had Harry recite the final words. And then it was Ginny's turn again, but she could not hold back the tears this time.

"… for richer or poorer…"

The emotions running through her heart finally overcame her, and her voice broke. Tears of happiness streamed down her face, and Harry, with his kind smile, gently wiped away her tears and kissed her hand. The tenderness of this gesture, however, broke her down even more.

"…in sickness and in health…"

She was so happy she couldn't stop crying. For the first time, she was crying in front of Harry, allowing him to see her nakedness and her vulnerability. After all, she had long ago promised herself never to be a crybaby in front of him. Now, as she recited the vows, she felt the tears streaming down her face, cleansing away years of hurt, rejection, doubt, loneliness, and transforming everything in its wake into unadulterated joy. She gave an involuntary high pitched laugh as she said the words.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Hermione beaming at her from the pew, the tears streaming down her face as well. She saw Ron, too, with tears in his eyes and looking sheepish for it, as if remembering a time not long ago when he came in on her crying

…_Over losing Harry. When Harry had ended their relationship, Ginny knew it wasn't because he didn't care for her. She knew it was for some "stupid, noble reason," and it was something he couldn't tell her. It had been two weeks since the end of the school year. _

_Ron sat next to her in her room._

"_You can't tell me what's going on? What you're all really up to?"_

_Ginny wiped away the tears with a napkin._

_Ron nodded._

"_I'm sorry. Dumbledore entrusted Harry with something, and Hermione and I are the only ones who can help him."_

"_I'm just afraid for him, Ron," Ginny said. "I want to help him. But I don't know how."_

"_Ginny," Ron said after a long pause, "you will be helping him. I'm sure of it. Wherever we go, I'm sure he'll think of you. And the thought of you will give him the strength to go on."_

_He put a reassuring arm around his sister's shoulder._

"_I'll protect him," he said. "I'll make sure he comes back to you."_

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister said at long last.

"You may kiss the bride."

Ginny closed her eyes as Harry leaned in to kiss her. Her mind whirled, and she was remembering all the sweet moments they had shared together, the summer playing two-a-side qwidditch at the Orchard, their first kiss in the Gryffindor common room, the wonderful early weeks of their relationship, that passionate kiss on Harry's birthday—

She was kissing him again, with all the passion and all the feeling that she could muster, wanting to _sense_ him fully, to taste and smell and feel him. In that kiss, she felt every bit of her soul pour out of her, mingling with her husband's, until she was no longer Ginny Weasley, but someone new and altogether wonderful--

She was _Ginny_ _Potter_.

And the roar of approval from the gathered crowd witnessing this beautiful, life-changing event was music to her ears, like the precious moment not long ago

…_When she had come back to the Gryffindor common room with her team behind her, holding above her in triumph the Qwidditch Cup, the perfect exclamation point to her seventh and final year at Hogwarts._

_To her shock, someone had arrived at the common room ahead of her and now stood in front of the couch. Ginny and her teammates stared in awe at the hundreds of red roses that adorned seemingly every square inch of the room, and the banner that proudly proclaimed_

_GINNY THE GREATEST SEEKER _

_LONG LIVE GINNY _

_GINNY THE CHAMPION_

"_Harry!" Ginny said finally, after getting over her initial shock. "What's the meaning of this? What are you doing at Hogwarts?"_

"_What," Harry said with a sly smile as Ginny approached him, handing the Cup to one of her teammates, "I can't visit my girlfriend at school, and help celebrate her glorious victory?"_

_Harry took her hand and got down on one knee. Ginny was floored, knowing now what was about to happen and feeling totally unprepared, all the same._

_He pulled out a ring box and slowly opened it to reveal a diamond engagement ring._

"_Ginny," Harry said, "I love you. There isn't anyone in the whole world I would rather spend the rest of my life with. I know you and I have been through a lot together, and I know there will be so much more to discover. I can't wait to start discovering it with you. And I thought I should ask you this question, in this very room where we had our first kiss... Will you marry me?"_

_Ginny got down on her knees to face him. She had never blushed so hard in her whole life._

"_Harry Potter," she said with mock sternness, "you just had to upstage me, didn't you?"_

_With those words, she snatched the ring from him and kissed him with all her might._

_The whole room erupted in raucous cheering._

_When their lips finally parted, Harry beamed at her, breathless._

"_So I take that as a yes?"_

It was many years later. A cold wind blew outside of their warm and comfortable home in Godric's Hollow, as Ginny re-enacted a scene from her own childhood. Only this time, the daughter had become a mother.

Ginny was telling a bedtime story to little Lily, just six years old.

"And so your daddy, poor little Harry, was lying there, and the big evil Voldemort was about to kill him."

"Oh no!" Lily cried. "What happened then, mommy?"

"Well," Ginny said, "Voldemort directed the killing curse at Harry, but it bounced off and hit him instead. It shattered Voldemort's soul, and he was gone for many years. Meanwhile, Harry was protected by the love of his mommy and daddy, and he lived. He was unharmed except for a little scar on his head. And he was all by himself for years, with no one but a mean bunch of muggles to talk to.

"And then," Ginny said, "would you like to guess what happened next?"

"Yes! Tell me," Lily said, growing tired against her will, ready to fall asleep.

"Then I met your daddy and fell completely in love with him."

"How did you meet? How did it happen, mommy? What was it like?"

"I'll have to save that one until you're older."

"Aww…" Lily slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Good night, sweetheart," Ginny said as she kissed her daughter to sleep. "I love you."

The End


End file.
